September 2011

09/30/2011

Bank fees, Herman Cain and hearing for the first time

New federal debit card rules begin tomorrow, and Bank of America wasted no time in announcing a $5 monthly fee for debit card purchases to make up for the expected drop in revenue. What's changing is the fee that banks charge to merchants -- now an average of 44 cents. Tomorrow, banks can't charge more than 21 cents.

But, here's the rub - Bank of America is not going to LOSE money by charging this amount, but it's going to make LESS money. Lower revenues means unhappy shareholders. Enter the customer fee of $5 a month. BoA has 57 million consumer and small business customers. If a majority use their debit cards to make purchases, BoA stands to make about $3 billion a year. That's a $1 billion more than the bank makes from the transaction fees. Guess who has the last laugh? The decision has sparked a flurry of outrage on our Facebook page and on Twitter.

Chris Christie may be getting all the hype, but it's Herman Cain who is quietly rising in the polls in the Republican presidential campaign.

After a series of impressive debate performances and a win in the Florida straw poll, Cain has jumped to 17 percent in the most recent poll, statistically tied with Rick Perry and a stone's throw away from Mitt Romney. Most pundits don't take him as a serious candidate, but it's hard to ignore a candidate who is rising from the ground up. By the way, Cainn appears on This Week with Christiane Amanpour on Sunday morning and his memoir, “This Is Herman Cain! My Journey to the White House,” is due out next week.

Think the NBA lockout is not having an impact on the players? Kobe Bryant may be able to get by, but a lot of players need a job to pay the bills. Delonte West, the former Boston Celtics guard, tweeted that after weeks of searching, he does finally have a job. Regency Furniture Showrooms, a furniture chain in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., hired him. West also posted a series of pictures on his Twitter account of his first day at Regency. West also applied for gigs at Home Depot and Sam's Club before landing employment at Regency.

Holly Madison is probably the last person who you would think would be leading searches on Google, but because she apparently insured her breasts for $1 million, she's the search leader.

According to various reports, the model, showgirl, TV personality and a girlfriend of Hef took out the million dollar policy with the Lloyd’s of London, which insures all sorts of body parts of famous people. Here's the thing: the breasts are not even real. Madison had plastic surgery in 2001, changing her size from an A-cup to a D-cup. Well, I guess there are more unusual things. David Lee Roth once took out a $1 million insurance policy on his sperm.

Ashton Kutcher responded to rumors of a split with wife Demi Moore by tweeting a link to the song, "Don't Believe The Hype."

NPR has put the spotlight on the pawpaw. My immediate reaction might be like yours - what the heck is a pawpaw? It's a fruit native to Kentucky and Indiana, among other Midwest and Southern states. A pawpaw is a mango-like fruit that, according to Allison Aubrey, also "grows along the banks of the Potomac - a speckled and homely skin that hides a tasty treat." The pawpaw actually has actually been around a long time. Thomas Jefferson apparently had them on his farm in Monticello, but they've never gained wide commercial acceptance. There are just a few orchards selling to farmers markets, but scientists are looking at the health value of the fruit. That could mean a boost to its appeal.

The most popular video in New York City this morning is haunting Red Sox fans. Don't watch if you're a fan. It will be painful.

The military guy who called dad to say he was gay is back with another trending video. This time he's calling mom.

An English Mastiff named Tank apparently thought he could help out around the house while his owner was away. The result… well, a viral video…

And finally, a 29-year-old woman born deaf has received a hearing implant. Cameras were rolling when they turned on the device.

09/29/2011

The Curse, the New Year and One Test More

Good morning!

The curse is back. For Red Sox fans, another chapter has been written in the long history of a team with epic fails. It's a torment that, even if you are not a baseball fan, is painful to witness. The September swoon by Boston brought back memories of 1978, and Bucky Dent's homerun to give the AL East crown to the Yankees, who were so far back in August that they couldn't see October. Last night's loss to Baltimore was reminiscent of the 1986 World Series, where the Red Sox were an out away from winning it all until the famed "blame it Buckner" play. For those who slept, the Red Sox were an out away from victory against Baltimore. Instead, closer Jonathan Papelbon surrendered three consecutive hits to blow the lead, the game and, moments later we would learn, the season. As Boston hoped for a life preserver, Tampa's Evan Longoria torpedoed a home run in the bottom of the 12th inning to defeat the Yankees to sink the Sox ship. Boston, which led the wildcard race by 9 games at the start of September, was officially done.

Red Sox fans are not alone in their misery this year as the Atlanta Braves completed their own epic fail. Up by 10 1/2 games in the wildcard race on August 26th, Atlanta completed its Titanic collapse by losing to the Phillies in 13 innings. St. Louis goes to the playoffs instead. I feel for the Braves and the Red Sox fans. Losing always hurts, but losing on the brink of victory… well, that's like having today’s winning lottery numbers with yesterday's ticket.

A new book about NFL great Walter Payton is painting a dark portrait of the Hall of Fame runningback. According to author Jeff Pearlman, Payton abused painkillers in retirement, became suicidal, and had multiple mistresses. According to Pearlman, at his Hall of Fame induction, his wife sat in the front row and his flight attendant girlfriend sat in the second.

Payton died in 1999 from a rare liver disease. Sweetness: The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton is scheduled to be released next week .

It's splitsville for Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, according to numerous reports. The couple has been married for six years, and Moore has spent a lot of time tweeting about how happy they are. Well, her tweets have twindled and other tweets say Kutcher, 33, is fooling around. A woman has emerged claiming she hooked up with Kutcher… on his 6th wedding anniversary. She says he said that Moore, 48, and he had separated. No mention of this separation yet on Demi or Ashton's Twitter accounts. They have more than 8 million followers between them.

Happy New Year! The Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, started Wednesday at sundown. The ancient holiday is observed on the first two days of the Hebrew month of Tishrei. Rosh Hashanah begins what are called the "Ten Days of Repentance," a period which concludes with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

The celebration of Rosh Hashanah has produced a few viral videos, including this one called Dip Your Apple:

Wanna see a really cool iPad app? Check out this video demonstrating a future app from Disney. It's a hybrid version of Cars, where toys interact with the iPad.

Speaking of toys and cars, check out this time lapse of a Ford Explorer being built out of Legos.

One of the most viewed videos in New York City is a shark attack at Fish Hoek beachin Cape Town, South Africa. Michael Cohen, 42, was mauled by the great white while swimming. The shark bit off his leg. Cohen was saved by quick-thinking bystanders who applied a makeshift tourniquet from a wetsuit and two belts. The video is after the attack, but you do get a good look at the shark.

One video more… A flash mob invaded the classroom. It happened during an engineering exam for first year students at the University of Toronto. Check out the reaction of the professor!

09/28/2011

Facebook files, Amazon's tablet and Andy Rooney

Good morning!

So all that stuff that you've been doing on Facebook -- poking, unfriending, when you sign on, and so on -- is apparently all being stored by Facebook, according to a very hot article on Forbes. That's probably not a big surprise, but what the data on one person takes up -- about a thousand pages -- it is eye opening. European law grants citizens a "right to access" to all the personal data that a company stores on them. So a group in Austria, aptly named Europe v. Facebook, obtained some of those personal records that Facebook keeps. Forbes reports that Facebook had 880 pages on one woman, including who she poked, where she signed in, who she defriended and when, who she rejected, and a history of messages and chats. The entire 880 page dossier is available in PDF form here: http://europe-v-facebook.org/lbb1.pdf.

Amazon will be rolling out its new tablet today. Few specifics are known, but it could challenge the iPad due to Amazon's strong media offerings (streaming movies and TV shows), history of aggressive pricing (it's expected to cost around $300) and its ability to market the device on its popular website. Stay tuned for updates!

Worries about listeria are trending high this morning as the number of deaths linked to Colorado-grown cantaloupes keeps climbing. It soon could become the second-deadliest U.S. outbreak of a food-borne illness. Thirteen people have died from the illness and three more deaths are suspected as listeria-caused, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The worst recorded listeria outbreak in the U.S. was in 1985, when 52 people died after eating tainted cheese. This outbreak is linked to melons grown by Jensen Farms in Colorado. The company recalled all of its "Rocky Ford" brand cantaloupes Sept. 14.

The crankiest man on television is hanging it up. Andy Rooney, who is 92, will announce his departure at the end of Sunday's 60 Minutes.

(Jim Cooper/AP Photo)

Rooney began speaking his mind in July 1978 with an essay about misleading reporting of automobile fatalities on the Independence Day weekend. Since that broadcast, he has appeared on 1,096 more episodes. His rise to fame at age 59 came after years of being a writer and producer, which were roles he said he valued most. He is an excellent writer and had some great lines over the years. He is a sampling:

"Because over the past few years, more money has been spent on breast implants and Viagra than is spent on Alzheimer's Disease research, it is believed that by the year 2030 there will be a large number of people wandering around with huge breasts and . . ."

"Computers make it easier to do a lot of things, but most of the things they make it easier to do don't need to be done."

"Vegetarian - that's an old Indian word meaning 'lousy hunter'"

"We've sent a man to the moon, and that's 29,000 miles away. The center of the Earth is only 4,000 miles away. You could drive that in a week, but for some reason nobody's ever done it."

"It would be a better world if everyone in it knew all the truth about everything."

"Most of us end up with no more than five or six people who remember us. Teachers have thousands of people who remember them for the rest of their lives."

“Shameless” Actress Amy Smart is trending because she tied the knot over the weekend with HGTV's Carter Oosterhouse in Traverse City, Michigan. The couple met by chance at a green charity event last November.

Kevin Federline (remember him… Britney Spears' ex) and his girlfriend, former pro-volleyball player Victoria Prince, are celebrating their first child together (his fifth), daughter, Jordan Kay Federline. The couple took her to Santa Barbara on Tuesday to introduce the world to Jordan. See pictures here.

A daddy at a baseball game in Japan has a lot of making up to do. Watch what happens when a baseball is hit his way while he is holding his daughter.... and then watch his wife's reaction.

Three women in England have been busted for stealing about $85,000 in jewels. The crime was captured on video. Watch the woman on the left while the other two distract the clerk. The woman becomes more daring as the video goes on. They might have gotten away with it if not for that camera.

And finally, three guys flying paper airplanes off the top floor of a building ended up with a viral video thanks to where one of the planes landed.

09/27/2011

Dead Sea Scrolls, Google's birthday and chocolate boats

Good morning!

If you are looking to do some reading today, you can be one of the first to check out the Dead Sea Scrolls. As the new year approaches on the Hebrew calendar, the Israel Museum, Jerusalem and Google have made available some of the scrolls for the first time ever.

The scrolls were written two thousand years ago, and found hidden in 11 desert caves by Bedouin shepherd just decades ago. The scrolls include the biblical Book of Isaiah, the manuscript known as the Temple Scroll, and three others. You can view, read and interact with the five digitized scrolls at http://dss.collections.imj.org.il/

Google is a teenager! Guess that means will be having trouble getting our searches answered. The internet giant is celebrating its 13th birthday today. Google has marked its birthday on different days during the month of September "depending on when people feel like having cake." In recent years, September 27th has been the date, and as you can see by Google's logo today, they are indeed having cake.

The Washington Monument is closed indefinitely after investigators discovered more damage than previous thought from last month's earthquake. However, the National Park Service the experts found the Monument to be structurally sound. Meanwhile, the Park Service also released this video of terrified visitors inside the Monument as the 5.8-magnitude earthquake shook the East Coast on August 23.

The L Word actress Leisha Hailey says she was kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight after kissing her girlfriend. The entire episode played out in a series of tweets Monday. Hailey wrote that she and fashion designer Nina Garduno, who have been together since 2006, "were escorted off the plane for getting upset about the issue." Southwest Airlines did reach out to Hailey on Twitter, and then later issued a statement on Twitter without naming names: "Initial reports indicate that we received several passenger complaints characterizing the behavior as excessive."

Funk icon Sly Stone, 68, front man of Sly and the Family Stone, is homeless and living in a camper van parked in Crenshaw, the neighborhood in Los Angeles where Boyz N the Hood was set. According to reports, as little as four years ago, the 68-year-old musician lived in a lavish Napa Valley home complete with a vineyard and several cars. Drug and money problems apparently led to where he is now. Sly & the Family had a string of hits in the late ’60s and early ’70s including "Dance to the Music" and "Everyday People."

Chelsea Clinton is now a member of the board. She has joined the board of directors of IAC/InterActiveCorp, media mogul Barry Diller's Internet holding company. Clinton is also a doctorate student at Oxford and works at New York University. Diller's company owns internet properties such as Match.com.

From France this morning, we have the chocolate boat regatta. Georges Larnicol creates the seven boats complete with chocolate oars and sails, which took part in a race on Odet river in western France. Three of the 1,000 pound boats sank, but the crowd seemed to enjoy the show!

In case you missed our post last night, check out this post-game interview with RCD Espanyol (Barcelona) soccer star Walter Pandiani. Watch the first few seconds, then skip ahead one minute... watch a few more seconds, then skip ahead another minute... and so on.

In Russia, a hippo getting out of the water captured the attention of a crowd, and then the hippo had the last laugh.

Our fun pet video of the day features the adventures of a cute kitten named Wrex and a cat named Shepard.

09/26/2011

The sweat interview

Check out this post-game interview with RCD Espanyol (Barcelona) soccer star Walter Pandiani. Watch the first few seconds, then skip ahead one minute... watch a few more seconds, then skip ahead another minute... and so on.

Flying high, treasure hunting and bear wrestling

The series premiere of Pan Am tops the trends this morning as people search for more information about the new ABC show.

Pan Am recreates the golden age of air travel with the focus on the stewardesses of the famed airline. The opening episode features the Clipper Majestic's first New York to London flight and Kate, played by Kelli Garner, encountering a man in a black hat and taking a U.S. intelligence assignment. You can learn more about the show and watch full episodes at abc.com.

Speaking of flying high, Boeing delivered its first 787 jet on Sunday. The new jet, which was supposed to be flying passengers three years ago, has been delayed by production and design problems.

(AP Photo/John Froschauer)

Japan's All Nippon Airways, which has been printing the 787 logo and "We Fly 1st" on its business cards for years, received the first one, which features bigger and higher windows and cabin pressure that is much closer to what it's like on the ground. All Nippon plans to begin flying the 787 from Tokyo to Okayama-Hiroshima on Nov. 11. The first international route will be Tokyo to Frankfurt starting in January.

Jacob Ellsbury is also a hot topic after hitting three homeruns in the double-header split against the Yankees, but it was the last homerun that meant the most and may have saved the Boston Red Sox season. Ellsbury nailed a three-run blast off Scott Proctor in the 14th inning to give the Red Sox a 7-4 win over the Yankees. A loss would have dropped Boston into a tie with the Tampa Bay Rays for the wild card with three games to play.

Meanwhile, Red Sox pitcher John Lackey is trending because, according to TMZ, hehas filed to divorce his wife, Krista, who is in the middle of battling breast cancer. Lackey filed for divorce last month. Sources told TMZ that Krista underwent a double mastectomy back in March and underwent chemo as recently as June.

Torrey Smith made a big splash in his NFL rookie debut. The Baltimore Ravens wide receiver caught touchdown passes for his first three career receptions in Sunday's blowout of St. Louis. Touchdown catches of 74, 41 and 18 yards capped three of the Ravens' first four possessions, and Smith finished with five receptions for 152 yards.

The next trending story is under the sea. It's a British merchant ship torpedoed by the Nazis in 1941. The ship was carrying a fortune in silver to England from India. Now, divers say they have found it about 300 miles southwest of Ireland in waters three miles deep, deeper than the resting place of the Titanic. The ship is believed in tact with cargo up to 240 tons of silver - worth more than $200 million. They plan to recover it this spring. I may ask if I can assist.

Among the trending videos this weekend… Lady Gaga's tribute to Jamey Rodemeyer, the 14-year-old boy from Buffalo who took his own life last week after years of being bullied.

Another hot video features Bristol Palin. She got tossed from a mechanical bull at West Hollywood's Saddle Ranch restaurant, got heckled and then got into a shouting match with the man over comments that he made about her mother, Sarah Palin.

A thrill ride coming to Six Flags Magic Mountain in California was also a popular video this weekend. The Lex Luther Drop of Doom will carry riders harnessed in by over-the-shoulder restraints. Catch cars will hoist the gondolas up the tower for approximately 95 seconds before reaching 400 feet from where they will be released into 5-second free fall descent attaining a velocity of 85 miles per hour. Not for the faint of heart.

Finally, baby bear wrestling. What more I can I say. The video says it all.

09/23/2011

Facebook, Nevermind and a miracle play

Good morning!

Facebook changes are a trending topic of discussion once again this morning after Mark Zuckerberg announced major changes to the user interface and other things that are coming over the next few weeks. The most notable change will be the end of Profiles and the birth of Timelines. I've already switched my account to test it out, and after some initial outbursts such as "why doesn't Zuckerberg go play golf with all that money?" I found myself enjoying the experience.

The new look and feel does take some getting used, but once you start exploring, you discover this change takes Facebook to a new level. The timeline is useful for finding items or going back and looking at photos or videos that you uploaded a long time ago. There are also new options to add to your information and timeline like “health and wellness” and recording your achievements and travels. Overall, it’s a much richer and deeper experience compared to what we are using now.

Of course, a lot of Facebook users are complaining loudly and threatening to flee and never to come back. In all likelihood, the floodgates will not open because people are vested in Facebook and there's no comparable alternative. After all, Facebook has made many changes over the years, but instead of running for the exits, more have come through the door -- 800-million in all. These improvements will likely have the same effect.

While Mitt Romney and Rick Perry grabbed the headlines at last night's Republican debate, Gary Johnson grabbed the spotlight. The former New Mexico governor brought down the house when he joked "next-door neighbor's two dogs have created more shovel-ready jobs than this current administration." Rush Limbaugh used a similar line this week on his radio show this week. "I guess I've become show prep for the GOP debates now, too," Limbaugh told The Huffington Post in an email. Regardless, the line propelled Johnson to the top of Google's searches overnight.

Meg Whitman was a trend yesterday over rumors that she might become the new Hewlett Packard CEO. Today's she is trending because she is the new CEO. Looks like HP may end up staying in the PC business after all. Whitman, the former eBay CEO, said in an interview that the company will be taking another look at that move announced last month.

Hard to believe, but twenty years ago this weekend Nirvana released its first major label album Nevermind. The album brought alternative rock into the mainstream and made Kurt Cobain a star. It's also hailed by critics as one of the great rock albums of all-time.

And on the eve of the anniversary, Frances Bean Cobain is trending. She is the only daughter of Cobain and his wife Courtney Love. Frances Bean is taking a small step into the spotlight with the release of a series of black and white photos taken by renowned fashion photographer Hedi Slimane.

If you are fan of Queen, check out this guy…. He's the reincarnation of Freddie Mercury.

If you are scared of heights, don't watch this video of a man in Russia climbing Stalin's Skyscraper, the Red Gates Administrative Building in Moscow.

The most viewed video in New York is this miracle touchdown in Connecticut. The score proved to be crucial North Haven's 20-19 victory over Hillhouse last Friday.

Lunch was anything but ordinary at Washington West Elementary School last Thursday. The key moment happens about :35 into the video. Check it out…

09/22/2011

Troy Davis, Elizabeth Warren and Cat Records

Good morning!

The execution of Troy Davis is the hot topic of discussion this morning. After 20 years and a day of last-minute appeals, Davis was executed in Georgia for the murder of an off-duty police officer in 1989. Over the course of his legal fight, Davis convinced hundreds of thousands of people that he was an innocent man, but not a single court agreed. Even in the death chamber, Davis maintained he did not kill Officer Mark MacPhail. "I am innocent. The incident that happened that night is not my fault. I did not have a gun," he told MacPhail's relatives. At 11:08 p.m., Davis breathed his last breath. His death set off a firestorm of outrage on Twitter under the hashtag #RIPTroyDavis. Here's a sampling:\

Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren's take on class warfare has gone viral. In the speech, Warren rebuts the charge that asking the rich to pay a little more in taxes is “class warfare” by pointing out that no one grew rich in America on their own.

Rick Santorum is apparently not happy with his search results, although he might be happy that he's trending. Santorum, who's running for President by the way, contacted Google because when people Google his name, the first result is not his personal website, but a fake definition of "santorum" - a sexual byproduct that is graphically described. The site started after Santorum compared homosexuality to pedophilia and bestiality in a 2003 interview. That sparked anger among gay rights supporters, and enough bloggers linked to the site that it gets a higher ranking than Santorum's campaign site. Santorum contacted Google about it, and suggested publicly that if he were a Democrat, Google would change it. In a statement, Google explained that search results are a reflection of the content and information that is available on the Web. The company does not "remove content from our search results, except in very limited cases such as illegal content and violations of our webmaster guidelines.”

About a month after announcing HP was getting out of the PC business, the HP board may be getting rid of CEO Leo Apotheker. The board is considering replacing him with former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, and investors seemed to like that idea. The stock rose about 7 percent, and as we know 7 is a very good number. HP's board is also reconsidering a spinoff or sale of the PC division. According to Bloomberg News, some board members think the plan wasn't thoroughly thought out.

The new ABC drama Revenge is trending after its series debut last night. Emily VanCamp stars as the mysterious Emily Thorne - a wealthy, beautiful young woman out for payback against those who destroyed her dad. It reminds me a bit of Dynasty from back in the day. It's a show filled with glamor, beautiful people, sex, lies, greed and, of course, revenge. Don't forget, the series premiere of Charlie's Angels is tonight at 8 on Channel 7.

A big brawl at a high school football game in Pennsylvania is among the most viewed videos on YouTube this morning. The fight broke out during Hickory's 43-7 over Sharon and forced an early end to the game last Friday. Members of both teams have been suspended, and the schools could face additional penalties.

Another trending video is a massive dodgeball fight in Utah. Around four thousand people went to war with 750 balls in Thanksgiving Point, Utah.

In keeping with the sports theme, we have the tail-gating grandma shotgunning beer at a Michigan football game.

And finally, the world's longest and shortest domestic cats. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Stewie, a Maine coon cat, is 48.5 inches long. He is owned by Robin Hendrickson and Erik Brandsness.

The honor of shortest belongs to Fizz Girl, a 2-year-old female munchkin cat, who measured six inches from the floor to the shoulders. She is owned by Tiffani Kjeldergaard of San Diego.

09/21/2011

Facebook changes, World Peace and Jedi Kittens

Good morning!

A new day, a new Facebook. Facebook rolled out significant changes to its news feed overnight. As the company explains, the most interesting stories are now featured at the top when you first log on. How is most interesting defined? Social relevance, engagement and interest among other factors. A little blue marker in the upper left hand corner tells you that the post is older, but interesting.

You’ll see the most recent posts come up if you stay on the wall.

Also, if you check Facebook more frequently, you’ll see the most recent stories first when you log on.

Another change… On the right hand side of the page, you will see a live ticker. This little module follows you around Facebook.

It's sort of a mini-Twitter so you can see what you friends are doing and posting in real time.

If you have a wider screen, slide the grey bar between ticker and chat up or down to adjust how many updates you see at a time. To control who can see your updates anywhere on Facebook, including in ticker and News Feed, adjust your sharing control or apps settings.

You will also notice that photos are larger to give you a better visual experience.

But hold the phone! More changes will be revealed tomorrow at the f8 conference in San Francisco. New media apps are also expected to be introduced that will allow users to stream music, watch movies and television without leaving Facebook. Facebook already revealed a first look the new news app with the release of a Wall Street Journal social app yesterday.

This app looks good on a pc or laptop, but check it out on the iPad too:

While Facebook may be unsettling the world with changes, World Peace is over for the rest of this season on Dancing With The Stars.

The basketball player formerly known as Ron Artest, Metta World Peace, and his partner Peta Murgatroyd became the first couple eliminated on Dancing With The Stars last night.

Maurice Sendak is trending for the first time in 30 years. That's how long it's been since Sendak wrote and illustrated "Where the Wild Things Are." His new book is called Bumble-Ardy, the tale of a young orphaned pig who has never in his life enjoyed a birthday party. Well, when his aunt adopts, that all changes and Bumble-Ardy invites nine swine into her home for an evening of no-holds-barred revelry. I haven't read it yet, but a lot of critics are saying, "this is a children's book?" The few reviews so far on Amazon are mixed.

Here's another reason not to gamble online. If you played Full Tilt Poker, the U.S. Justice Department says you may have been a victim of a giant Ponzi scheme. According to the Wall Street Journal, officials accused celebrity poker players Howard Lederer and Christopher Ferguson and other executives who ran the site of defrauding players of more than $300 million. Attorneys amended an earlier civil complaint to add that the company brass illegally paid themselves with funds that were deposited by players supposedly for safe keeping.

The end of Don't Ask Don't Tell continues to be a trending topic, and it's also the subject of the most viewed video on YouTube. A guy in the military recorded himself calling his dad to say he's gay.

Also trending is a new George Clooney commercial in which he ends up…. MARRIED!

Fail of the day comes from a construction site. Skip to about 1:45 for the fail.

It must be time lapse week on YouTube. For the third day in a row we have one trending. This one features Benjamin Jenks hitching across the country from Los Angeles to Maine.

09/20/2011

Kate Walsh, Chaz Bono and smiles

Good morning!

Who knew Kate Walsh, the star of ABC's Private Practice, was a comedian?! She is a hot trend this morning for her appearance at Charlie Sheen's roast.

(AP Photo/Evan Agostini)

Walsh displayed what she described as her raunchy side (she's half-Irish, she explained), taking shots and making off-color jokes at Sheen's life. For those unprepared for this display of humor, Walsh told USA Today that she actually started her career in improv. Displaying a bit of her tv medical degree at the roast, Walsh offered this prognosis for Sheen: "For some reason, you’re able to defy science and medicine and continue to survive. I’ll pencil you in for your relapse next week."

Chaz Bono stepped onto the dancing floor and into the trends. The activist transsexual child of Sonny and Cher received plenty of cheers and warm reviews from the judges on the season premiere of Dancing With The Stars. Bono and pro partner Lacey Schwimmer finished with respectable 17 points.

Iraq war veteran/actor J.R. Martinez and Karina Smirnoff tied Chynna Phillips and Tony Dovolani for the lead with 22 points. One of the stars will go home tonight. Read more on our Mirror Ball blog.

The curtain came down on Don't Ask, Don't Tell at midnight. The military policy had been in place since 1993 and dictated that the military could not ask a soldier, sailor or airman about his or her sexual preference, but if their sexual orientation was found out, they could be discharged. Servicemembers Legal Defense Network estimates more than 14,000 people have been discharged from the military because of DADT.

Who would have thought Bob Hope would be a trend? He is today after the passing of his widow, Dolores Hope. She gave up her singing career to spend 69 years at the side of her husband. While he entertained the world, she pursued philanthropy and helped with him to project the image of an enduring Hollywood marriage.

On the other end of the spectrum, we have Michaele Salahi, who dumped hubby Tareq, to get back together with Journey guitarist Neal Schon. She had been dating both Neal and Tareq in the late '90s, but she suffered from multiple sclerosis and decided life with a rock star would be too much, so she married Tareq. Michaele told Diamond that she and Schon had been emailing and texting for awhile before she finally decided over Labor Day weekend that he was the one who she really wanted. Oh, it's a tangled web of sex, lies and videotape as Tareq was rolling on their backstage meeting with Neal over Labor Day weekend, apparently clueless to what was happening… but now he’s sharing those videos with TMZ.

It's Happy Unbroken Day on Twitter. Why? Two words: Demi Lovato.

From YouTube, take a cross-country tour from Seattle to Maine in about five minutes. It was posted by someone who went down I-90, for almost the entire length of the highway, with only a few small detours. A picture was taken by a Droid X every 90 seconds, and put to music here:

One of the most popular videos is a pro cyclist named Joey Mullan taking a nasty spill at the Single Speed Eliminator Race at StarCrossed. He's okay, according to the person who posted the video.

And finally, a little girl in Brazil underwent cleft lip surgery. What happened when she saw her face the morning after? Just watch, and smile.